UPDATE: Nov. 20, 2015, 12:05 PM ET
BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Malian national television reported that no more hostages were being held at a luxury hotel after a day-long siege by Islamic militants.
National broadcaster ORTM, citing security officials, said 18 bodies already had been at the hotel and that no more hostages were being held. A source with Mali’s U.N. mission said at least 12 bodies had been recovered from the hotel. The source spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
It was not immediately clear whether attackers were still alive inside the hotel.
Gunfire continued into the late afternoon, and Malian army commander Modibo Nama Traore said operations were continuing.
An extremist group that two years ago split from al-Qaida’s North Africa branch claimed responsibility for the attack on the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako.
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God is great? As if we needed any more evidence, it would appear that God is a sociopath.
It´s been pointed out that our reaction to Paris (e.g., my avatar) has been far more effusive than our reaction to Beirut, or Nigeria. Part of it is that Paris occupies a much larger part of our western cultural landscape (and in my case I lived there) than Bamako. My reaction to the massacre in Paris was almost tribal, and tribalism is kinda sorta a big issue around the world now. In a better world, we would react almost the same way to this and Nigeria as we did to Paris, but you know we won´t.
OTOH, a hotel in Bamako is likely to be filled with French people, so I could be wrong.
On another note, Boku Haram, like ISIS, is another organization whose rise to prominence has at the very least been aided and abetted by climate change. We´d better start paying some serious consideration to the connection there, ´cos we´re gonna be seeing a lot more social upheaval from drought and sea rise going forward.
Belief in a cruel God makes a cruel man. Thomas Paine
You have to admit, these people shouting “God is great” are definitely a lot like God. Insistence on mindless obedience, indiscriminate killing, and wanton indifference are their hallmarks.
Well at least the Malian authorities didn’t test an unproven and predictable chemical agent on terrorist and hostage alike, killing most of both.
You know, like the Russians have done.